High quality efficient home lighting using LEDs, HIRs and Halogens

Just replaced the last lamps in the house with LED's They were T5 fluorescents in the wood shop. I remodeled a camper that had 1156 bulbs all 13 of them they were better heaters than bulbs I checked the current draw just for grins 23 amps! By the time I was done there were 15 all LED's 3.8 amps! When you are running on batteries that's substantial. I have no ideal how many LED's are in the house never counted them but from where I'm sitting there are 18 track lights alone as far as color it depends where they are, the shop is 100% bright white.

 

Interesting. I wonder how that uneven distribution manifests to the eye / brain. I know the failure mode where they end up with a big red shift if the yellow LED fails is rather unpleasant but for normal operations does the brain subconsciously detect this spike even if it doesn’t realize it is detecting it?

I don’t think I ever measured current draw either.

I also was not sure if the other bulb with the newer design corrected any of that?

What I should probably try next is a side by side viewing of the GE vs Cree to get some subjective impressions.

The last part of their marketing was about the light distribution, it’s supposed to be an even cone out to 6’ or so from 8’ height. Since my ceilings are 10’ I noticed a big improvement in distribution over incandescent bulbs in the halls and closets as well as over the fluorescent tubes in the original kitchen lighting. I don’t suppose there is any way to measure / compare that part of the beam?

 

The track lights look like little floodlights and mostly act like them, because they are in our living space (about 8' up) they are 3000K at 8 watts. They do overlap so the light is pretty well spaced no real dark spots. The same holds true for the second floor but they are recessed I think because the bulbs are not deep inside the can the light pattern is typical of flood light. The workshop ones are all about light so they all are blight white including the T5 tubes (very bright) the rest are floods up a good 8' I don't know just what the sweet spot is you get to the point of losing light energy if they are too high. The floods I have outside seem to be somewhat centered they just get so wide and that's it I'm sure some where there is a sight that has all photometrics of these dang things. I'm glad the incandescent bulbs have gone the way of the dinosaurs and I don't get burnt fingers changing a dead one!

 

Experts: any comments or experiences on these types of lights?

$30 GHUSTAR 2-Pack LED Garage Light 60W Garage Lighting - 6000LM 6500K LED Deformable Garage Ceiling Lights, LED Shop Light with Adjustable Multi-Position Panels, LED Glow Light for Garage, Workshop

https://www.amazon.com/2-Pack-Garag...=1619701462&sprefix=Garage+LED,aps,228&sr=8-5

 

Never heard of them but for $30.00 for two lamps go for it. I doubt it will fit in a flood/spot light socket should fit a standard base. They will have a blue color to them too much for me but every one is different.

 

Going to try out some newer Cree’s now that I know the dirty little secrets of the old ones.

 

Those list 6500k output. That is way too blue for home use, where the max you’d want is 5000k (daylight), and more typically 2700-3000k indoors. I have my garage lit in 3000k. They might be bright but I’m certain light quality will also be poor.

 

Good to know!

I was more questioning this “fan” style lightbulb.I’ve only recently seen LEDs like this.

Here are some 5k ones.

Limited-time deal: Lightdot 2 Pack LED Garage Lights, 60W LED Shop Light 5000K 6000LM(Eqv 200w), Eye-Care Triple LED Garage Lighting for Attic and Basement

2-Pack LED Garage Lights, 80W LED Shop Light 5000K 8000LM Three-Leaf Garage Ceiling Light Fixtures,Adjustable Multi-Position Panels，E26 Base,LED Glow Light for Garage, Workshop Attic and Basement

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07SDBFRHJ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_2621730GQWF39GWAV5WF

 

I see nothing wrong with the style of the design in concept. I expect the quality of light (CRI) will be low compared to light sources that are intended for in-home use. If that is important or not is up to you. I run HD 90+ CRI 3000k lights in my garage.

 

Photo of one new light and 3 old lights looking directly North. I’m not sure how noticeable the difference is, but like the movie, North by Northwest is where it’s at.



ETA: I just swapped the other 3. I think I need a dimmer now. These things are rather powerful.



Consensus is, too bright. I have dimmer switches on order but I am going to try the 100’s to replace these 150’s and move two of the 150’s over the dining table.

 

Anyone have a recommendation for B10 used in a ceiling fan with frosted glass shield?

 

I use the GE HD Relax b10 in all of my ceiling fans.

 

Here is what I am working with

 

Insane record breaking 109 degree temps sustained over many days in a region where summer temps seldom top the mid 80s, and where most homes and many businesses don't have AC have caused serious pause for use of halogen lights in the home. All Kitchen HIRs are strictly off limits. Bathroom lights that had been reduced from 4x 50w fronted halogen bulbs to 4x 40w clear bulbs have now had 3 of the 4 bulbs removed from the fixture to only utilize a single bulb to minimize heat output while still providing useful light. Since the garage is under the living space and I installed some ultra high thermal efficiency doors, I've been parking the truck outside to cool down in the heat, rather than parking a hot truck in my cool garage which would use up my cold air storage bank. Ironically I installed the doors to hold the heat in as a workspace in the winter. It hadn't occurred to me I'd be insulating the garage from hell outside to keep the workplace place cool. All lights, even the LEDs, are turned off unless absolutely necessary. But when required LED lights are used when possible to minimize heat output.

 

This is how we roll in the AZ desert, I have converted everything to LED’s.
We have sun screens and black out curtains on the sun sides of the house.
We have solar to offset the cost of using AC in the summer.

 

Costco instant rebate means 2 more of 8 panels converted from fluorescent w led bulbs to straight led panels. I also like the color better. Might finish off the last two this week just to have full uniformity.

 

Nice!

what are they rated to replace 40w?

 

I finally got around to testing the newer version of @daveeasa Cree lights. The #2 lights are the newer units vs the older original units.





The spectrum is almost identical, as is the color temp. Ignore the lux intensity values since the distance was not standardized and is using a normalized comparison, though interestingly the older units have a slightly better CRI value, but both are still in the 'HD' light range (90-94CRI). Impressive performance for older home lighting units as most consumer grade LEDs back then were in the low quality 80 CRI range, which was adequate when competing with the awful CFLs but nowhere near the quality of the outgoing incandescents.

 

Sorry I missed this.

Specs appear to indicate 46W.

 

Thanks!

Based on your testing and review I’ve swapped kitchen and dining room to these more modern Cree 6” down lights. The 150’s were too bright for the kitchen mains even with a dimmer so I moved them to the dining room where I only have 2 bulbs and they work pretty well there with a dimmer. Kitchen is 100w x 4 and then I have a 5th 150w on the sink which just never gets used. I would honestly like to hard wire it to the other 4 and use the switch for under cabinet lighting instead but the time for that was before the kitchen remodel. Oops.

I’ve been tempted to replace the rest of the old ones (laundry, bathrooms, master closet, upstairs hallway) with the new THD versions but haven’t prioritized it. It is really fantastic that we have seen such improvements in a rather short time span.